Virginia State Police vehicle (photo by John Calhoun/JC Photography)
An Arlington truck driver was seriously hurt after his tractor-trailer suffered a mechanical problem and was struck from behind.
The crash, at 12:30 a.m. last Tuesday along the Beltway near Eisenhower Avenue, killed the 51-year-old driver of the Mercedes that struck the truck.
More from a Virginia State Police press release:
At 12:30 a.m. Tuesday (Sept. 12, 2023), Virginia State Police responded to a two-vehicle crash in Fairfax County.
A tractor-trailer was experiencing mechanical issues that caused it to rapidly slow in speed while traveling east on I-495 near Exit 174. A 2003 Mercedes Benz traveling in the eastbound lane was unable to stop in time and struck the rear of the stopped tractor-trailer.
The driver of the Mercedes, Martin Warner Jr., 51, of Alexandria, Va., did not survive the crash. He was not wearing a seat belt.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, a 36-year-old Arlington, Va. resident, was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment of serious injuries. He was wearing a seat belt.
The westbound lanes of Columbia Pike are blocked near Arlington’s western border after a crash involving a U-Haul truck.
The crash happened around 5:20 p.m. near the intersection of the Pike and S. Jefferson Street. That’s about three blocks from a U-Haul rental location.
Initial reports suggest that the rental truck collided with two vehicles and then mounted a curb, went over a sidewalk, and ran partially up a steep grassy hill. One or two minor injuries were reported.
A tow crew is on scene cleaning up debris from the roadway and trying to figure out how to get the box truck safely down from the embankment.
LOCATION: Columbia Pike / S Jefferson Street INCIDENT: Traffic Collision IMPACT: WB Columbia Pike is closed at S Jefferson Street. Seek alternate routes. pic.twitter.com/sI1P1NS39I
Stolen ambulance damaged in chase (photo via Virginia State Police/Facebook)
Virginia State Police cruiser damaged in chase (photo via Virginia State Police/Facebook)
(Updated at 11 p.m.) A suspect in a truck crashed into multiple vehicles on I-66 and I-395, then led police on a wild chase in a stolen Arlington ambulance.
The incidents started shortly after 3:30 p.m., with reports of a stolen Freightliner truck striking vehicles on I-66 in the Rosslyn area and again on northbound I-395 just before the 14th Street Bridge. I-395 was blocked by the crashes and at least two people were hurt, including one with reported significant injuries.
The same hit-and-run suspect then allegedly stole another truck before hopping in and stealing an Arlington ambulance around 4:15 p.m. Medics tried to pull the suspect out of the ambulance but he drove off, leading Virginia State Police — followed by Arlington police — on a chase through parts of Crystal City and Pentagon City. The suspect struck numerous vehicles on the northbound HOV lanes of I-395 as he fled into D.C., according to Virginia State Police.
Eventually the ambulance was stopped on I-395 in southwest D.C. and the suspect taken into custody, according to Virginia State Police.
All northbound lanes of I-395, including HOV lanes, were blocked as of 4:45 p.m., with delays on the highway extending upwards of two miles. The HOV lanes reopened by 6:15 p.m. while crews continued to clear the crash scene in the still-blocked main lanes. As of 7:15 p.m. two main lanes had reopened, per VDOT.
At least 20 vehicles were damaged over the course of the hour-long string of incidents, including the ambulance, a VSP cruiser, a parked vehicle in D.C., vehicles on the GW Parkway and I-66, and well over a dozen vehicles on I-395.
Virginia State Police said in a press release Saturday night that the suspect is a 30-year-old Maryland man.
At 3:40 p.m. Saturday (Aug. 12), Virginia State Police responded to a two-vehicle crash in the eastbound lanes of I-66 near the 74 mile marker. The truck that caused the crash fled the scene. The truck had been reported stolen out of Falls Church, Va., and the driver was later identified as Darell T. Caldwell, 30, of Brandywine, Md. The driver of the other vehicle involved in this crash was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
At 3:41 p.m., VSP responded to a multi-vehicle crash in the northbound lanes of I-395 near Exit 10 in Arlington County. The crash was caused by the same stolen truck being driven by Caldwell. A total of five people were transported to a nearby hospital as a result of this crash. Meanwhile, Caldwell fled the crash scene on foot.
Minutes later, State Police received a report of a crash on the George Washington Parkway involving another truck being driven by Caldwell that was driving the wrong way when it struck another vehicle. An Arlington County Fire Department ambulance responding to I-395 came upon the crash on the GW Parkway. The ambulance stopped and the medics got out to render aid to the drivers. While the medics were tending to the one driver, Caldwell ran up to the ambulance and drove off in it.
The medics waved down a VSP trooper who was responding to the crash scenes to alert him to the stolen ambulance. The trooper caught up to the stolen ambulance. When the ambulance refused to stop for the trooper, a pursuit was initiated. At one point, the ambulance stopped in the road. As the trooper was getting out of his patrol car, Caldwell put the ambulance in reverse and rammed the state police vehicle and fled the scene.
The pursuit continued with Virginia State Police being assisted by Arlington County Police. During the course of the pursuit, the stolen ambulance accessed the I-395 Express Lanes and then entered Washington, D.C., where it struck head-on a parked vehicle at 14th Street NW and D Street NW. State police and Arlington County Police took Caldwell into custody without further incident. Caldwell was transported to a nearby hospital for medical evaluation.
The parked vehicle that was struck by the ambulance was occupied by one person. That individual suffered minor injuries.
During the course of the pursuit, the stolen ambulance struck multiple vehicles and again rammed the trooper’s patrol car. At this time, state police have accounted for and are investigating 13 hit-and-run crashes committed by the stolen ambulance. State police has not received any reports of serious injuries resulting from the crashes. No law enforcement were injured during the course of the pursuit. Anyone who was struck by the ambulance during the course of the pursuit is encouraged to contact the Virginia State Police at 703-803-0026.
Caldwell has been charged by federal and local law enforcement. State police charges are still pending.
Videos of the crashes, the chase and the arrest are below.
Video of arrest. We now record to protect everyone. We must call out all abuses, but also make sure those who do right & keep us safe get credit. tense chase up bridge, slammed into this car (looks like treasury worker) then clean, safe, arrest @VSPFiveM@wusa9@nbcwashingtonpic.twitter.com/PdWzY7m8y4
UPDATE: The suspect was taken to an area hospital after the Arlington police officer administered Narcan. Also multiple patients were transported including the officer. We are on scene where the crash ended after the individual wrecked his truck before jacking another vehicle and… https://t.co/upGF8uiA4dpic.twitter.com/j9PQQhgfH8
Earlier this afternoon an ACFD ambulance was stolen while on the scene of an emergency incident. The involved crew are unharmed and the unit has been recovered. Please direct media inquiries to @VSPPIOpic.twitter.com/6nwaogbEEH
Double rainbow over Crystal City (photo courtesy Will Wiard)
Double rainbow over Waverly Hills (photo courtesy Geoff Collins)
Double rainbow over Pentagon City (photo courtesy Dave Statter)
Double rainbow over Ashton Heights (photo courtesy Kelly Harrington)
Metro Delays Due to Safety Snafu — “Metro’s Chief Safety Officer reports that nearly half of Metro’s 500 rail operators have lapsed recertification… In consultation with the Board of Directors, Metro management is taking immediate corrective action to remove from service 72 train operators who became out of compliance prior to May 2021. This will result in a temporary reduction in Green and Yellow line service from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes due to an operator shortage.” [WMATA]
APS Changes Bell Schedules — “The School Board in Arlington, Virginia, voted to lengthen the school day by a little less than 10 minutes and to rearrange school start and end times in the first change to the county school system’s bell schedule in more than two decades. At its Thursday meeting, the board unanimously voted in favor of the adjustments.” [WTOP]
Psaki Spat With Arlington GOP — Outgoing White House Press Secretary (and Arlington resident) Jen Psaki “acknowledged that there have been instances in which she shared information with the Secret Service about threats… She said that no one has physically come to her home, but added, ‘There is a circulation of my address among the Arlington Republican Party.’ The Arlington GOP in a statement to The Hill said it ‘has not publicly disseminated any Biden Administration official’s home address.'” [The Hill]
Rosslyn Tunnel Congestion Revisited — “The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) is pressing leadership of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority not to forget about congestion at the Rosslyn tunnel. In a May 6 letter to (outgoing) Metro general manager Paul Wiedefeld, NVTC chair Carek Aguirre urged the transit agency to ‘recognize the strategic importance of moving swiftly to design a solution to relieve train congestion’ at the tunnel.” [Sun Gazette]
Wakefield Rowing Storms State Tourney — “At Saturday’s regatta… the Warriors stood just as deep as any other school on the Occoquan River and stepped into the dynasty conversation themselves, with the boys’ and girls’ top varsity eight boats each rowing to titles.” [Washington Post, Twitter]
Trucker Protest Returning — “The People’s Convoy is slated to be in D.C. by Tuesday, as they’re currently in Ohio. Further, a convoy leader tonight took to the microphone to try and squash fear over being hit with eggs in the city, saying: ‘I happen to like eggs.'” [Twitter]
DCA Using UV to Zap Covid — “Reagan National and Dulles International airports now have ultraviolet disinfection technology to combat the spread of viruses including Covid… The airports authority’s statement of work specifically called for the technology to disinfect the air in 39 spaces at National and 73 spaces at Dulles, including ticketing and baggage claim areas, security checkpoints, transit platforms and gate hold rooms.” [Washington Business Journal]
Local Real Estate is Really Expensive — “There may be an end in sight at some point for rising single-family home values in Arlington. But so far, it hasn’t been reached. The average sales price of the 100 single-family properties that went to closing in April was $1,348,813. That’s up 14.5 percent from a year before.” [Sun Gazette]
Missing Falls Church Teen — “City of Falls Church Police seek information to help a teen return home. Abigail… is 16 years old and was last seen at her home in the City at about 3 a.m. on Sunday after an argument with family. Abigail is about 5 feet tall, has black brown hair and a nose ring.” [City of Falls Church]
It’s Monday — Rain and storms, some severe, in the afternoon and evening. High of 77 and low of 64. Sunrise at 5:56 am and sunset at 8:16 pm. [Weather.gov]
A moving truck has tipped onto its side while rounding a corner on a ramp to I-66.
The crash happened just after 4 p.m., reportedly on the ramp from northbound Route 110 to westbound I-66, near Rosslyn and the Roosevelt Bridge. Initial reports suggest that the driver, who was the only occupant of the vehicle at the time, suffered only minor injuries.
As of 4:15 p.m. traffic on the ramp was still flowing past the overturned truck and there were otherwise no traffic impacts. Normally busy outbound rush hour traffic on I-66 has been reduced to a trickle as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
A temporary closure of the ramp might be necessary to drag the truck back onto its wheels, however.
Traffic camera images show a yellow Penske rental truck on the sidewalk and a Metro bus stop sign on the ground. A black metal bench was also reportedly smashed, along with a fence and a tree in the yard adjacent to the sidewalk.
It’s not clear how the crash happened, nor whether any other vehicles were involved. No injuries have been reported. Police are on scene.
Delivery trucks are a frequent topic of complaints from Arlington residents.
Aside from double parking issues, they’re noisy and polluting. When you live near a truck loading dock, you often dread early morning deliveries and the “beep beep beep” of a truck going in reverse. The county often requires that new developments limit loading dock hours, as a condition of approval.
But what if the noisy idling, shrill beeps and diesel fumes could be a thing of the past? That is a future that Arlington County Board member Erik Gutshall is seeking to hasten.
Electric trucks, which are poised to become an increasingly common sight on the roads over the course of the decade, are the solution to many of the current delivery truck complains. Gutshall says Arlington County should take proactive measure to encourage their adoption — “some extra oomph,” as he puts it.
Cautioning that “the idea is very conceptual at this point,” Gutshall said the general idea would be to give electric delivery trucks special privileges, via development site plans and other regulatory means, for things like longer loading dock hours and designated curbside loading spaces on public roads.
Rewarding electric truck owners, instead of punishing fossil fuel truck owners, should “stay within a legally defensible framework” when it comes to the Dillon Rule in Virginia, he said. And if it doesn’t, the now-Democratic controlled state legislature could also carve out permission for localities to pass such ordinances.
“Update the regulations to accommodate the reality of modern life,” he said.
Gutshall plans to raise the idea, which he tweeted about last month, with his colleagues on the County Board in the near future — perhaps during an upcoming discussion on curbside management. Should it prove politically feasible, the next steps would include a public engagement process and legal review.
@ArlingtonDES we can use curbspace management ordinance and loading dock management plans required with development approvals to incentivize electrified delivery fleets.https://t.co/5BZucg3rNs
Electric trucks will come with the added benefit of helping Arlington achieve some of its Community Energy Plan goals.
“This is not just an Arlington issue,” Gutshall told ARLnow. “There are lots of other communities developing climate action plans and everyone knows that vehicle emissions are a huge part of the overall emission profile.”
“Any boost we can give to push early adopters out of the nest,” Gutshall said, will “help get other jurisdictions to do the same.”
Dump truck overturned before Chain Bridge (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Dump truck overturned before Chain Bridge (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Dump truck overturned before Chain Bridge (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Dump truck overturned before Chain Bridge (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Dump truck overturned before Chain Bridge (photo courtesy Arash Tafakor)
Chain Bridge blocked in D.C.
(Updated at 4:40 p.m.) A dump truck overturned on N. Glebe Road, right before Chain Bridge, completely blocking the road to and from the bridge.
The driver was reported to be “severely trapped” in the truck’s cab, prompting a large fire department rescue response, according to scanner traffic. Multiple ambulances were dispatched to the scene, though it’s unclear if anyone else was injured.
The crash also spilled the truck’s load of cinder blocks and construction debris over the roadway. A heavy wrecker was requested to respond to the scene to assist with the cleanup.
The truck crashed after a steep and winding section of Glebe Road, which leads to a traffic signal at the intersection with Chain Bridge Road, just prior to the bridge.
Chain Bridge was expected to remain closed between D.C. and Virginia, and northbound Glebe Road is expected to remain blocked at N. Military Road, for an extended period of time — likely for “several hours.” Heavy traffic was reported on Chain Bridge Road approaching the crash scene this afternoon, with backups starting to extend into Fairfax County.
“Expect major delays as rescue work continues,” advised the Arlington County Fire Department. “Seek an alternate route.”
“Disruptions are anticipated into the evening commute,” Arlington County said via Twitter.
After an extended rescue operation, the trapped driver was removed from the truck just prior to 1 p.m. Glebe reopened to traffic between Chain Bridge Road and Military Road around 2 p.m. Chain Bridge reopened around 4:30 p.m., according to scanner traffic, though for now traffic heading from D.C. must turn on to Chain Bridge Road.
UPDATE – Chain Bridge itself remains closed for clean-up. Glebe Road and VA side of Chain Bridge Road are open to traffic. Vehicles still can not cross bridge in either direction. Follow @arlingtonalert for road information
SEVERE TRAFFIC DISRUPTIONS ⚠️: The Chain Bridge is closed due to an overturned vehicle. Roads are closed in the area. Seek alternative routes as disruptions are anticipated into evening commute. https://t.co/091VX2nD4O
A large truck carrying gravel overturned just north of Marymount University this afternoon.
The incident happened around 12:30 p.m. at the intersection of N. Abingdon Street and 34th Steet N. It’s unclear what led to the accident, which resulted in the truck tipping over onto its side, partially on the front yard of a house. It appears that the truck trailer was in the dumping position when it overturned — a load of gravel could be seen on the street behind it.
The driver of the truck was evaluated at the scene by paramedics for back pain. Two heavy duty tow trucks were called in to try to upright the truck and haul it away.
A man is lucky to be alive after a dump truck ran over his head in the Ballston area over the weekend.
The incident happened around 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 24. According to police, the cyclist was stopped at a temporary red light next to a construction site on Quincy Street near Wilson Boulevard, when an unoccupied dump truck started rolling south on Quincy and struck him.
The man was knocked to the ground and one of the truck’s tires ran over his head, said Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. The man was wearing a helmet at the time and the helmet likely saved his life. He was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital’s trauma center with non-life-threatening injuries, Sternbeck said.
Immediately after the incident the driver of the dump truck, who had left it running and unattended next to the construction site, ran it down and managed to stop it from rolling further, according to Sternbeck. Occupational safety officials responded to the scene, inspected the truck and found multiple safety violations, he said.
Citations were issued and the truck was “taken out of service.” No word on whether any other charges are pending.
A fully-loaded dump truck came to a grinding halt at the intersection of N. Glebe Road and Randolph Street this morning after its left front wheel detached from the axle.
Nobody was hurt, but the accident did block Randolph Street for at least a half hour, as a heavy wrecker truck was brought in to move the disabled dump truck. A large gash was visible in the pavement, showing where the truck started grinding into the street after the wheel fell off.
The incident happened as the truck was turning from northbound Glebe onto Randolph, across from the Harris Teeter and the Ballston mall parking garage.
